From the Journal of Richter Haustmann...

"After we'd put together a stash of supplies outside the city we packed away our things and made for the gates. As we approached the huge stone edifice that marked the entrance to the City of the Damned and its wooden doors hanging loosely from rusted hinges a crowd of people burst forth screaming and yelling for help.

Waldemar grabbed one of the men and shook an answer out of him. A Necromancer had been sighted in one of the temples nearby and he was summoning the undead from the unquiet graves around it. As happenstance would have it the Middenheimers we had fought against before were also nearby and seemed intent on solving the problem for themselves.

Gottfried talked with their leader, still as shaggy and uncouth as he was the first time we had met, and made a deal with the Ulrican. We would work together to bring down the Necromancer and share whatever spoils were on offer. The only rule was that we, as Templars of Sigmar, would get to kill the miscreant.

As we moved into the city another band of warriors came running towards us wearing the red and white of Reikland. Their leader, a free company captain from his attire, said that he knew exactly where the Necromancer was and what he was doing. He had heard word that the foul sorcerer was trying to raise a Vampire using the souls of the dying and he was nearing his goal.

With no time to check if this Reiklander was true to his word we thought that we should make for the temple with haste and see for ourselves..."

A Zombie Invasion!

Last week I looked at creating some scenarios for use with Mordheim and Coreheim. This weekend two friends and I got together to try out one of them and see where we went wrong, and where we went right. I can thankfully say that it was quite fun even if the rules were a tad broken. More on that later.

With the scene set however we made ourselves a rather cluttered board of ruined, burnt down houses with the remnants of civilisation scattered around it. In the middle was the huge smashed temple to Sigmar (or whatever God you want it to be). At the centre stood the Necromancer himself who would be summoning zombies and waiting for us to come so he could claim our souls.

Here were the rules we went with...

• At the beginning of each players turn the Necromancer summons d6 Zombies.
• If the Necromancer can see an enemy he will cast a spell (roll these randomly from either the Mordheim or Coreheim rules).
• At the end of a players turn the zombies get to move/charge/fight (deadly!).
• If your warband members die within 6" of the Necromancer he will suck their souls into his spell and needs 5 of them to summon the Vampire.
• When the Vampire is summoned he will seek to escape by running towards the nearest board edge the easiest way possible.
• You win the game by killing the Necromancer OR killing the summoned Vampire AND the Necromancer if it gets to that.

Right now I bet some of you can see where some of the problems will arise but we'll dive into the game and get fighting off a zombie horde!

Middenheimers, Witch Hunters & Reiklanders Vs Necromancer Herr Krumm

We started off the game in a triangular set up around the board. Both my Witch Hunters and the Middenheimers were in the corners with the Reiklanders taking up the straight and narrow approach to the front of the temple. Right off the bat Herr Krum had summoned a clutch of zombies and they were wailing and moaning for brains.

We were using the random initiative rules for this game where after each full complete round we would roll a dice and take our turns in order meaning things could twist and turn throughout the game. Thankfully the first turns were pretty uneventful to begin with and just saw our warbands moving into position while zombies poured out of the temple looking for our warm flesh.

This is where it all got very Hollywood zombie invasion (that needs to be a movie) and we suddenly found ourselves swarmed by the undead. My Witch Hunters were caught unawares and both Krull and Storri the Troll Slayer were engaged by the shambling hordes. They failed spectacularly to do anything of note and Krull was subsequently dragged down by one of the undead. Storri managed to knock over his foe, twice. He is a terrible slayer.

Across the other side of the board the Middenheimers were trapped within a set of buildings in their deployment zone. The captain and his comrades were trying in vain to bring down the zombie hordes but they would not stay dead. Each turn they would either swing wildly over their undead heads or just knock them over. There was one rather cool moment where a spearmen dashed out of a building and with spear raised pinned the undead fiend to the cobbles.

The Reiklanders were faring somewhat better and one of their Youngbloods was showing them what it meant to be courageous using his leaders inspiring words to swing out with his sword and decapitate a zombie or two proving his worth as a member of this new warband.

The game moved on through subsequent turns with the zombies pouring out in extraordinary numbers (at one point we had at least forty of them on the table) and while it looked cool we could not see a way through to the cackling Herr Krum. The Middenheimers pushed up around the flanks of the temple but found themselves waylaid by even more of the undead. The Reiklanders moved up in force and despite cutting down a good number of the fiends couldn't force a path onwards.

Meanwhile my Witch Hunters had decided the best course of action was to try a flanking move just like the other warbands and I moved my Captain and Rudiger Howard around to move on the temple with one zombie to face. Despite my Warrior Priest coming into his own and smashing three zombies into pieces with his fury and Might of Sigmar my warband then decided it was going to rout. I had lost four men, including both of my bounty hunters and both hired swords, and this forced me to scarper.

With one of the trio fleeing into the city the Middenheimers and Reiklanders found themselves assailed on more than one front and although they fought bravely they found that no one could get into the temple. As we ran out of time at the store the Middenheimers had one last ditch attempt to fight and kill Herr Krum but the arrows and crossbow bolts flew wide and clattered across the stones.

With that Herr Krull, sensing he needed no souls and could simply rely on his own magical powers, summoned the vampire and the for of a Strigoi clan member burst from the ground ready to terrorise Mordheim.

Next Time We Do It My Way...

As some of you might have already grasped, we kind of messed up with the mechanics of this scenario. Well more importantly I did. I had incorrectly surmised the amount of zombies and how deadly they were going to be getting that amount of turns throughout the game. This meant it was pretty much impossible for us to get into the centre of the board without taking massive amounts of casualties.

If we were to do this again (and we most likely will) then I would have it that the zombies spawned in the centre begin with d6 at the beginning of the game but go down to d3 at the beginning of each players turns. The zombies would also ONLY get a go at the end of a round rather than at the end of each player turn. I had inadvertently made them 28 Days Later infected rather than the shambling constructs they should have been. That way there was going to be more chance of the warband getting into the temple and being killed to offer their souls to the vampire.

With that tweak I think it would make a much better scenario and would be just as tense too. If you make those tweaks let me know how it goes for you. That's the joy of play testing stuff though!

More than anything I was glad to get back into Mordheim and playing more games. As you can see from the photos we have some awesome groups and plenty of characters to take into the streets now.

"I will kill that accursed Grimh brother. The fool called our men to retreat just as I got the Necromancer in my sights! Despite the words of Gottfried and his radiating hammer of sigmarite justice the fools scattered back into the back alleys. I have a good mind to set Gnasher on the fools and tear them limb from limb!

My only solace is that the Middenheimers and the Reiklanders didn't get to Herr Krum either. Unfortunately it seems one of the blood suckers did escape the temple and vanished into the city. We will have to deal with him at a later date.

Fortunately I also don't have to pay that worthless cur Krum. The fool of a Pit Fighter died of his wounds. I think I'll keep the Slayer though. While Storri is useless he is dangerous and he has an odd glint in his eyes when I talk of him going on his way. Maybe I will just shoot him in the back next time we go on patrol."

Extra Images Submitted by Molemantle.

More damned japes next week!